Snowmageddon in Vancouver

Many side streets looked like this this morning

The story today in Vancouver was snow, snow, snow and how it affected people, bad and good.

An unusually cold front overnight led to precipitation becoming snow which started coming down from around 8pm until late morning, leading to an accumulation of about 30cm, or about a foot of snow. We already had a small dump on Sunday, but this was unprecedented.

From 5am onwards I was glued to listening to the radio, hearing the traffic reports telling people not to go out unless they really had to, as the driving was treacherous and public transit was spotty. 

Many planes were grounded at YVR

Unfortunately there was complete chaos at Vancouver International Airport where flights were seriously delayed or cancelled. One man called into CBC Radio and explained he had a flight to Toronto at 5pm yesterday, but they didn't get on the plane until three hours later, but that they had been sitting on the tarmac ever since -- over 10 hours later.

This was not the only story. Another woman told the evening news that they had gotten on and off the plane several times and waited six hours. Other passengers were luckily allowed to finally get off, but then had to make their way home, their planned trip to Hawaii seeming further away than ever.

Apparently passengers were trying very hard to keep their patience, but sitting on a plane for hours with just two small cups of water and some cookies is very trying, even though the weather is beyond the control of the airline... 

It's not clear if there wasn't enough ground staff to open gates for people to get off the planes, or that the airlines were still trying to fly out. Regardless there were a lot of tired, hungry, frustrated and disappointed people at YVR.

Tired travellers rested wherever they could

The rest of us dug ourselves out of the snow. My mom thought her dental appointment was still on, so I walked her to the bus stop around 8.45am. Many of the house occupants hadn't cleared their sidewalks yet -- us included -- so we stepped in a lot of fresh snow and paths that had been trodden on but not enough to give us even footing. 

Luckily we didn't have to wait long for the bus and I saw my mom off and then walked back and had breakfast before starting the task of shovelling. Soon after I started she returned -- the dental office was closed! She was quite irate, but it was only later she found out her dentist had texted her at 7am, but she didn't see the message... her dentist profusely apologised.

Shovelling snow was a task that had to be done slow and steady. It helped to shovel small amounts of the white stuff than try to ambitiously cover more ground so that I didn't tire so easily. It was so quiet outside the birds were having a fun time (or freezing time?!) flying around chasing each other in the cold weather and chirping away. Dogs were having a ball playing in the snow. 

The snowfall inspired a lot of picture-taking

My favourite video on Twitter is of a guy whipping off his long black coat to reveal himself in a Speedo and googles in a backyard in Port Moody that is covered in snow. He steps up and pretends to dive into a pool, but it's actually a foot of fresh powder and he starts "swimming" freestyle for a few seconds. 

Hope he warmed up with a hot shower after!

Unfortunately the temperature is at minus 7 degrees Celsius so the snow will turn to ice tomorrow...